Price of Purple Heart, blood and $21 COD fee

Rob Dickerson, Army Veteran, Forced To Pay $21 C.O.D. For Purple Heart Medal

Ben Muessig

Retired Sgt. Major Rob Dickerson says he had to pay $21 in shipping fees for his Purple Heart award, earned after he was wounded in Iraq in 2007.

War comes with an incalculable human cost. And apparently a shipping fee of about $21.

Retired Sgt. Major Rob Dickerson says that's the price he was forced to pay when his Purple Heart -- the medal issued to soldiers wounded in action -- arrived at his door, C.O.D.

Instead of being awarded the military honor in a formal ceremony, the vet with 29 years in the service was handed his award, and a shipping invoice, by a FedEx deliveryman outside his Sioux Falls, S.D., home.

"Leaders need to pay attention and take care of soldiers," Dickerson told The Huffington Post. "This is a gross injustice."

The shipping-and-handling fiasco was the last aggravation for Dickerson in his four-year quest to get the medal. His story was first reported by Keloland.com.

In 2007, he was a reservist embedded as an advisor to Iraqi soldiers. He was training troops to fight the insurgency, when a rocket exploded nearby and severely injured him.

"It threw me 20, 25 feet in the air -- it just crumpled me," said Dickerson, who said the blow inflicted a traumatic brain injury, shrapnel wounds, injuries to his right shoulder, lower back and neck and nerve damage in his hip.
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Army Veteran, Forced To Pay COD For Purple Heart Medal

James A. Haley VA paid big bonuses in tight 2009 budget

Haley VA paid big bonuses in tight 2009 budget

By William R. Levesque, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Saturday, August 6, 2011

About 87,000 patients get treatment at Haley, ranked 9th among VA facilities nationally. Haley boasts what may be the premier polytrauma unit in the nation, where the most severely wounded veterans are treated.

TAMPA — One of the nation's busiest veteran hospitals found itself in a money crunch in 2009.

Leaders at the James A. Haley VA Medical Center worked frantically to find funds to offset a deficit that, at one point, was projected at more than $25 million, financial records show.

Travel costs were curtailed. Overtime scrutinized. Potential hires prioritized.

But amid the cuts, one budget item nearly tripled:

Employee bonuses.

Haley paid its 175 business office employees $553,000 in fiscal 2009 bonuses, up from $196,000 the year before, according to Haley and budget records. Bonuses largely went up, Haley officials say, because of a new hospital program that rewarded workers who exceeded goals collecting money owed by insurers and veterans.

Collections went up 14 percent that year to $82 million compared to 2008. Bonuses shot up 181 percent. As bonuses climbed, so, too, did billing refunds.

Refunds of veteran co-pays climbed from $426,525 in fiscal 2007 to $1.5 million in 2010, Haley confirmed.

Haley officials describe the refunds as routine for any Department of Veterans Affairs hospital and said they do not point to flawed billing.

Some say the VA needs to be more forthcoming about bonuses in trying financial times.

Haley's 2009 bonuses "stand out like a search beacon in the desert," said Paul Sullivan, a veterans advocate who is the executive director of Veterans for Common Sense in Washington, D.C.
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Haley VA paid big bonuses in tight 2009 budget

300 Montana veterans waiting for VA to hire orthopedic surgeon?

300 Montana veterans wait for orthopedic surgery as VA tries to recruit surgeon

By CINDY UKEN Of The Gazette Staff
Posted: Saturday, August 6, 2011

At least 300 Montana veterans who need orthopedic surgery are on a waiting list while the Department of Veterans Affairs Montana Health Care System works to recruit a full-time surgeon to help ease the growing backlog of disabled — and often disgruntled — veterans.

To receive surgery, Montana veterans without private insurance must travel out of state for care or pay for it out of their pockets. To compound this problem, Montana veterans are being told that the VA facilities in Denver and Salt Lake City are too busy to accept Montana patients.

Subsequently, they are being placed on a waiting list that is approaching two years.


Read more: 300 Montana veterans wait for orthopedic surgery

Hayworth Rallies Support for Bill to Save VA Hospitals from Developers

Hayworth Rallies Support for Bill to Save VA Hospitals from Developers
Buchanan press conference draws more than 100; H.R. 2642 would prevent Montrose, Castle Point campuses from being sold or leased
By Bryan Byrne

"Do you know why we have freedom? There are five reasons: Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard!" Karl Rohde

Rep. Nan Hayworth rallied support Friday, Aug. 5, from a Buchanan audience of more than 100 veterans and others for H.R. 2642, a bill she has introduced to protect hundreds of Veterans Administration acres along the Hudson River from being turned over to developers looking to use the land to build high-end condominiums.

"Decades ago a commision was was developed - with the best of intentions - to see how some of the VA campuses across the country might be repurposed," Hayworth told the gathering on the front lawn of Village Hall.

"A proposal, called an enhanced use lease, would lease 172 of the 184 acres of the Montrose VA campus for development. Our veterans have been very concerned about this plan and I can understand why."

H.R.2642 would prohibit the disposal of land or buildings by any means at the Montrose or Castle Point campuses of the Hudson Valley Health Care System. Both are in Hayworth's 19th District.

The congresswoman stressed the importance of the Montrose campus's capabilities for treating patients from the ongoing war on terror for such conditions as post-traumatic stress disorder.
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Hayworth Rallies Support for Bill to Save VA Hospitals from Developers

Warrior Relaxation Response Center helping PTSD veterans to relax

Winning the battle against PTSD, fighting a battle for legitimacy
Comments 3
Therapy gets results, but not funding
August 08, 2011 1:00 PM
BARBARA COTTER
THE GAZETTE


In the two decades since Daniel Nieto served in the Gulf War, anxiety has dogged him nearly every day. He has trouble sleeping. Noises make him jump. He has panic attacks, an inability to concentrate and a social phobia that makes it difficult for him to be around people.

And this, he says, is just a “mild” case of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

“I talk to guys who have it far worse than me,” the 42-year-old Army vet says.

Nieto is convinced that if active-duty military and vets with PTSD and other stress-related problems could spend time at Antione Johnson’s Warrior Relaxation Response Center in Colorado Springs, they’d find the same relief from anxiety that he has in just the few times he’s been there.

“Every day of your life, the problems follow you. Coming here to a place like this is tranquility,” says Nieto, who claims to be sleeping better and has greater control of his panic attacks.

Johnson would be delighted if more members of the military, past and present, availed themselves of his spa-like facility, tucked away in a nondescript strip mall near Circle Drive and Airport Road. A Gulf War vet himself, Johnson invested his and his wife’s savings to start the center in 2010, specifically to help people with PTSD, and he had high hopes that Fort Carson would send over the many “wounded warriors” who have suffered the emotional fallout from multiple deployments Iraq and Afghanistan.



Read more: Winning the battle against PTSD fighting a battle for legitimacy

Veteran has to prove he isn't dead yet

False government death reports leave people in the lurch
BY SUSAN DEMAR LAFFERTY
The phrase “dead man walking” doesn’t tell the full story of what Tremayne Gray once had to go through.

The Country Club Hills man also was a “dead man” searching for a job, filling out an application — and being turned down.

Gray was 20 years old at the time, and his prospective employer, in conducting a background search, found that Gray was dead.

“I was so stunned,” said Gray, now 35 and still very much alive.

Gray did not get that job or others he applied for shortly afterward. Who wants to hire a dead person?

But Gray’s plight is similar to that of thousands of Americans who mistakenly are reported dead every year by the Social Security Administration or other federal agencies. And Illinois has one of the highest rates of making such grave mistakes, according to a recent report by Scripps Howard News Service.

“It’s weird,” South Chicago Heights resident Jeffrey Zych said of his similar experience with “death.” “It’s weird that you could stand there in front of someone and they would not take your word that you were alive.
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False government death reports leave people in the lurch

St. Petersburg targets homeless veteran who lives in backyard shed

St. Petersburg targets homeless man who lives in backyard shed

By Luis Perez, Times Staff Writer
Posted: Aug 05, 2011

Times Staff Writer

ST. PETERSBURG — He's lived for years in the dirt alley off 18th Street and Burlington Avenue N, the white-bearded homeless veteran everyone knows as C.J.

His real name is Jon Bradshaw. For some, he is the neighborhood's trusted watchman. Those folks turned a blind eye when someone built a wooden shed so Bradshaw, 69, could lay his head.

Others view Bradshaw, often seen nursing a can of Natural Ice, as a neighborhood scar — an unwanted reminder of the old homeless tent city under Interstate 275.

Amid the city of St. Petersburg's much publicized crackdown on the homeless, an angry neighbor alerted a city code inspector to Bradshaw's makeshift home.

The resulting battle has pit neighbor against neighbor, and thrust Bradshaw from his life in the shadows into the city's high-profile effort to rid downtown streets of the homeless.

"I'm being treated like the poor fox running from the hounds," Bradshaw said. "I'm getting weary."

When William Bechtel bought his one-story wood-frame house on Burlington Avenue in 2008, he says Bradshaw came with it. The neighborhood was rougher then. Bradshaw shooed away prowlers and thieves.

"He helped me out, man," says Bechtel, 52, an audio technician.

Bechtel, whose father was a war veteran, sympathized with Bradshaw, who says he served in the U.S. military during Vietnam but refuses to offer specifics.
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St. Petersburg targets homeless man

Last year a homeless veteran passed away. He lived in a shed behind a church. People said he was homeless but that was not really true since he was surrounded by love. One more thing is that after this story came out, a Marine in Iraq had some down time and was continuing searching for his father. He found him. He knew his Dad was loved and cared for. When we decide that we don't want them in our neighborhood maybe it would be a good idea to think about the fact these homeless veterans were willing to die for all of us. Read the story about the other homeless veteran and know what is possible if we care enough about them when they come home needing us.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Vietnam Vet Andrew Elmer Wright found a home as a homeless vet

A simple casket with an American flag for Vietnam Veteran Andrew Elmer Wright.

A simple bouquet of flowers was placed with a simple photo a church member snapped.

By all accounts, Andrew was a simple man with simple needs but what was evident today is that Andrew was anything but a "simple" man.

A few days ago I received an email from Chaplain Lyle Schmeiser, DAV Chapter 16, asking for people to attend a funeral for a homeless Vietnam veteran. After posting about funerals for the forgotten for many years across the country, I felt compelled to attend.

As I drove to the Carey Hand Colonial Funeral Home, I imagined an empty room knowing how few people would show up for a funeral like this. All the other homeless veteran stories flooded my thoughts and this, I thought, would be just one more of them.

When I arrived, I discovered the funeral home was paying for the funeral. Pastor Joel Reif, of First United Church of Christ asked them if they could help out to bury this veteran and they did. They put together a beautiful service with Honor Guard and a 21 gun salute by the VFW post.

I asked a man there what he knew about Andrew and his eyes filled. He smiled and then told me how Andrew wouldn't drink the water from the tap. He'd send this man for bottled water, always insisting on paying for it. When the water was on sale, he'd buy Andrew an extra case of water but Andrew was upset because the man didn't use the extra money for gas.

Then Pastor Joel filled in more of Andrew's life. Andrew got back from Vietnam, got married and had children. His wife passed away and Andrew remarried. For some reason the marriage didn't work out. Soon the state came to take his children away. Andrew did all he could to get his children back, but after years of trying, he gave up and lost hope.

A few years ago, after going to the church for help from the food pantry, for himself and his cats, Andrew lost what little he had left. The tent he was living in was bulldozed down in an attempt to clear out homeless people from Orlando. Nothing was left and he couldn't find his cats.

Andrew ended up talking to Pastor Joel after his bike was stolen again, he'd been beaten up and ended up sleeping on church grounds in the doorway. Pastor Joel offered him the shed in the back of the church to sleep in so that he wouldn't have to face more attacks.

The shed had electricity and they put in a TV set, a frying pan and a coffee maker. They wanted to give Andrew more but he said they had already given him enough.

Pastor Joel told of how Andrew gave him a Christmas card with some money in it one year. Pastor Joel didn't want to take money from someone with so little, but Andrew begged him to take it saying "Please, don't take this away from me" because it was all he had to give and it meant a lot to give it to the Pastor. Much like the widow with two cents gave all she had in the Bible, Andrew was truly grateful for what little he had been given from the church.

What was soon made clear is that Pastor Joel gave him even more than he imagined. Andrew took it on himself to be the church watchman. While services were going on after Andrew greeted the parishioners, he would travel around the parking lot to make sure the cars were safe. At night he made sure any guests of the church were equally watched over. Pastor Joel not only gave him a roof over his head and food, he gave him something to make him feel needed.

More and more people came to the service and there was a lot of weeping as Pastor Joel spoke. What was very clear this day is that Andrew was called a homeless veteran but he was not homeless. He found one at the church. He lost his family and his children, but he found a family at the church.

From what was said about Andrew, he was a Vietnam veteran with PTSD and he wanted no help from the VA. Too many of them feel the same way and they live on the streets, depending on the kindness of strangers to help them out. Andrew wasn't one of the panhandlers we see in Orlando. He refused to beg for money and he wanted to work for whatever he was given. His health got worse but he still did what he could. Right up until March 16, 2010 when Andrew passed away, no matter what happened to him during his life, Andrew proved that this veteran was not hopeless, not helpless because he found the fulfillment of hope in the arms of strangers who took him in and he found help as he asked as well as gave.

The legacy of this homeless veteran is that he touched the lives of so many hearts and will never be forgotten.
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Jacksonville soldier killed in Afghanistan

Jacksonville soldier killed in Afghanistan
Posted: August 6, 2011 - 12:05am


By Jeff Brumley
Morris News Service
A 21-year-old Jacksonville man is among two soldiers killed Wednesday in Afghanistan.

The U.S. Department of Defense said Friday that Army Pfc. Gil I. Morales Del Valle and Pfc. Cody G. Baker, 19, of Holton, Kan., died in an enemy attack on their vehicle with an improvised explosive device.

They were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom in Wardak province, Afghanistan. The men were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Polk, La.
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Jacksonville soldier killed in Afghanistan

Marine Recruit Helps Police Nab Fleeing Suspect

Marine Recruit Helps Police Nab Fleeing Suspect
Geneseo, N.Y. - For what Dylan Knights lacks in muscle and brawn, he makes up for in bravery.
Reported by: Angela Hong

Knights was in Geneseo Thursday afternoon when police and deputies stopped a man who was driving more than 100 miles per hour.

Livingston County Sheriff's deputies caught up with Tom Sheflin in the Village.

Dylan Knights was outside Pizza Paul's Restaurant with his girlfriend when he saw Sheflin crash into two vehicles.

"Nothing was going through my mind," Knights said. "I wasn't worried about getting hurt."

Knights then ran up to Sheflin’s car, jumped through the passenger window, turned off the car, and took the keys out of the ignition.

Sheflin then tried running away from deputies.

Knights, a Marine Corps recruit, ran after Sheflin and tackled him.
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Marine Recruit Helps Police Nab Fleeing Suspect

31 Special Operation Soliders killed in Afghanistan Helicopter Crash

UPDATE 8/6/11

U.S. official: Killed forces were reinforcing troops in Afghanistan
By David Ariosto and Barbara Starr, CNN
August 6, 2011 -- Updated 2224

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Helicopter was on a reinforcement mission, U.S. military official says
22 of the dead are U.S. Navy SEALs, U.S. officials say
A majority belonged to the same unit that killed Osama bin Laden
7 Afghans died in the incident, President Karzai says

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- In the single deadliest loss for U.S. troops since the Afghan war began in late 2001, 30 service members died early Saturday when a helicopter carrying them went down while they were reinforcing other troops, officials said.

Insurgents are believed to have shot down the CH-47 Chinook, a U.S. military official said. The Taliban claimed militants downed the helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade.
Among the 25 U.S. special operations forces killed in Wardak province were 22 Navy SEALS, considered to be the "best of the best." Seven Afghan troops also died.
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Killed forces were reinforcing troops in Afghanistan

UPDATE from CNN
U.S. official: about two dozen U.S. deaths in Afghan copter crash
By David Ariosto and Barbara Starr, CNN
August 6, 2011
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Most of the dead are U.S. Navy SEALs, U.S. officials say
Obama and others express their condolences
A U.S. military official identified the helicopter as a CH-47 Chinook
A Taliban spokesman says insurgents shot down the helicopter in a rocket attack.
7 Afghans died in the crash, his office said

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Most of those killed when a Chinook helicopter crashed in eastern Afghanistan overnight were U.S. Navy SEALs, two U.S. government officials said.
"It's a big loss" for the SEALs," one of the officials said. The numbers are high."
"It is believed that about two dozen Special Operations Forces, including some from other services, were on board the aircraft, in addition to the Army crew flying the craft."
Afghan President Hamid Karzai issued a statement saying as many as 31 U.S. special forces and seven Afghans were killed.
About two dozen U.S. deaths in Afghan copter crash

31 American Troops Killed In NATO Helicopter Crash In Afghanistan
By SOLOMON MOORE
08/ 6/11
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A helicopter crash in Afghanistan's eastern Wardak province has killed 31 U.S. special operation troops and seven Afghan soldiers, the country's president said on Saturday. It was the highest number of casualties recorded in a single incident in the decade-long war.

President Hamid Karzai sent his condolences to President Barack Obama, according to a statement issued by his office.

"A NATO helicopter crashed last night in Wardak province," Karzai said in the statement, adding that 31 American special operations troops were killed. "President Karzai expressed his deep condolences because of this incident and expressed his sympathy to Barack Obama."

NATO confirmed the overnight crash and said the alliance was conducting a recovery operation at the site and investigating the cause of the crash, but did not release details or a casualty figure. The coalition said there "was enemy activity in the area."
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31 American Troops Killed In NATO Helicopter Crash

VA Quality Data Released to Public on CMS Hospital

VA Quality Data Released to Public on CMS Hospital Compare Web Site

WASHINGTON (August 5, 2011) - Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers are now included in the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) Hospital Compare Web site, which measures hospital quality based on what matters most to patients - the outcomes of care.

"VA is committed to providing Veterans and their family members with a transparent accounting of the quality and safety of its health care system," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. "In collaborating with CMS, we show our determination to be open and accountable to Veterans and their families."

Release of outcomes data to the public is not new for VA. Mortality and readmission results were first posted in 2010 on the VA Hospital Compare Web site (www.hospitalcompare.va.gov/) using a similar method limited to only VA patients. VA results posted on VA's site are updated quarterly and will not match the results on CMS Hospital Compare, which are only updated annually and lag about year.

CMS is reporting 30-day measures for three common and high-cost conditions: acute myocardial infarction (AMI), heart failure (HF), and pneumonia to the public through its Web site, www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/. This year CMS is reporting results for patients treated in VA's health care system. The inclusion of VA data on CMS Hospital Compare is indicative of VA's commitment to transparency, accountability and quality. Annual reporting on these measures furthers the goal of measuring and rewarding quality as a strategy for improving health care outcomes for Veterans and for patients overall.

Results of VA medical centers' risk-adjusted mortality and readmission are available to the public on the CMS Hospital Compare Web site starting today.

Veterans, stakeholders and the general public will be able to directly compare the mortality rates and readmission rates at individual VA medical centers against non-VA hospitals for AMI, HF and pneumonia. The cases reported are from July 2007 through June 2010 for approximately 4,530 non-federal U.S. acute care hospitals (including critical access hospitals) and Indian Health Services hospitals.

First responders tell of 9/11, aftermath at Fresh Kills landfill

In documentary, first responders tell of 9/11, aftermath at Fresh Kills landfill
Published: Friday, August 05, 2011
ISLANDIA, N.Y. — Anthony Yacapino was sitting at home, watching a Bugs Bunny cartoon in 2004 when he felt the first signs of post-traumatic stress disorder. “My heart felt like it was leaping out of my chest. I thought I was dying. It was seriously scary,” he recalls.

The retired New York City police detective, like thousands of colleagues, worked for months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks dealing with the aftermath. He interviewed relatives of the dead at a bereavement center and later searched for human remains and victims’ belongings at the former Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island.

After that first scare, Yacapino remained silent for months, trying to avoid letting on to his superiors that he was ailing years after working near Ground Zero. Then he had to go to court one day in lower Manhattan, not far from the World Trade Center site, and he went into a panic attack.
That’s when he finally decided to seek medical help, enlisting in a program run by Stony Brook University on New York’s Long Island. “The best move I ever made,” he admits.
read more here
First responders tell of 9/11, aftermath at Fresh Kills landfill

Obama uses tax cuts to put veterans back to work

Obama unveils major jobs initiative for vets
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Aug 5, 2011 5:31:42 EDT
Facing another dismal report about high unemployment for veterans, President Obama is proposing new tax breaks to encourage employers to give a hiring edge to veterans.

The initiatives come as the Labor Department reported Friday that the unemployment rate for Iraq and Afghanistan-era veterans was 12.4 percent in July, up from 11.8 percent in July 2010.

Unemployment problems for these veterans, separated from the service since 2001, come despite the fact that the overall unemployment rate for all veterans is 8.6 percent — slightly lower than the 9.1 percent national unemployment rate.

The White House proposals, similar to other initiatives discussed in Congress in recent years, would provide businesses a $2,400 tax credit for hiring any unemployed veteran, a $4,800 tax credit for hiring a veteran who has been out of work for at least six months and a $9,600 tax credit for hiring a veteran with a service-connected disability who has been out of work for six months.
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Obama unveils major jobs initiative for vets

What is wrong with these pictures?

What is wrong with these pictures
If you want to laugh today, click the link. Some of these are just too funny and we all need to laugh.

4 Marines committed suicide in July, 13 more attempted it

MILITARY: Four Marine Corps suicides recorded in July

July's four suicides came after five Marines killed themselves in June.

By MARK WALKER mlwalker@nctimes.com
Posted: Friday, August 5, 2011

Four U.S. Marines took their own lives in July, raising the service's number of suicides recorded in 2011 to 21.

An additional 13 troops attempted suicide, raising that number for the year to 107, according to the latest figures from the Marine Corps' Suicide Prevention Program.

The Marine Corps has launched a wide array of outreach and counseling efforts at Camp Pendleton and all its bases in recent years, and instituted mandatory suicide prevention training in response to a growing rate of self-inflicted deaths since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were launched.
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Four Marine Corps suicides recorded in July

Suicide attempts higher for veterans on campus

Suicide attempts higher for veterans on campus
By Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – College students who served in the military have a suicide attempt rate six times higher than the average college student, suggests research presented today at a meeting of the American Psychological Association. It found students who are veterans also report thinking about suicide or planning their death at significantly higher rates.

Researchers with the National Center for Veterans' Studies at the University of Utah surveyed 525 veterans, average age 26. Almost all (98%) had been deployed in either Iraq or Afghanistan and 58% to 60% reported experiencing combat.

Nearly half (46%) of the 415 men and 110 women studied reported having had suicidal thinking sometime in their lives; 20% had suicidal thoughts with a plan. That compares to 2010 data from the American College Health Association, which showed 6% of college students reported seriously considering suicide.

Suicidal thinking with a plan is considered a serious suicidal risk, says lead author M. David Rudd, a psychologist at the Utah center, who presented the study.

"That's more than triple the general student population," he says. "There's been an enormous amount of research on veterans in general, but not veterans on campus."

The veteran survey also found that 7.7% reported a suicide attempt, compared to 1.3% of college students overall who reported attempting suicide.
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Suicide attempts higher for veterans on campus

Original
Veterans in college six times more likely to attempt suicide

Utah scholar calls suicide risk among student vets ‘alarming’

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Research led by psychologist David Rudd, the dean of the University of Utah's College of Social and Behavioral Science, has found that student veterans are at far greater risk for suicide and severe psychological disorders than the general student population.

BY BRIAN MAFFLY
The Salt Lake Tribune
Aug 04 2011
After returning home to Utah from the Iraq war and a year-long hospital stay to recover from major injuries, Brad Chidester sat in college classrooms surrounded by other young people and felt utterly alone. His combat experience made it impossible to relate to the seeming frivolity of undergraduate life at Dixie State College.

"They are enjoying their life and you don’t feel like you belong anymore. Life was different for me," said Chidester, 28, who lives in the central Utah town of Fountain Green. There were times in college when Chidester felt he couldn’t go on, before he was admitted to a hospital to begin treatment for his psychological injuries. He is among the near-majority of college student veterans whom scholars now believe have experienced suicidal feelings.
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Utah scholar calls suicide risk among student vets alarming

Why would a soldier walk into a Chaplain's office with a gun?

Why would a soldier walk into a Chaplain's office with a gun?

These are the questions the reporter wanted to know.

"The unanswered queries include: Was the soldier going to the chaplain’s office as a cry for help? He had recently returned from deployment, so was he provided any mental health assistance on the day of his arrest? Was he considered a danger to himself?"

He was in the military for 12 years! He must have had some run in with the Chaplain before this but so far, no one knows what happened. He walked in with a gun but was not arrested for threatening the Chaplain according to the reports. What happened here and why is he dead?

Soldier found dead after arrest for gun

Wed, 08/03/2011

BY BILL HESS
Herald/Review
FORT HUACHUCA — A 12-year Army veteran died “of an apparent gunshot wound,” a few hours after being arrested Monday for carrying a gun into a fort building, post spokeswoman Tanja Linton stated in a press release Wednesday.

The death of Sgt. 1st Class Jose J. Algarin-Colon occurred Monday afternoon, but the release was delayed until 24 hours after his family was notified.

Monday morning, the soldier was arrested by military police for “bringing a loaded weapon to Greely Hall,” Linton’s press release stated. That incident was reported as a brief, without the soldier’s name, in Tuesday’s edition of the Herald/Review, with no other details coming from the post public affairs office.

Sources said the 38-year-old soldier had gone into the building carrying the gun and had gone to the chaplain’s office, which reported him to post law enforcement for carrying a weapon into the building.

Such actions generally violate military law, which only allows law enforcement officials or soldiers during exercises to enter military structures with weapons, although generally during exercises the non-law enforcement soldiers do not have ammunition.

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Soldier found dead after arrest for gun

Original story
Army releases name of soldier found dead

Iraq and Afghanistan veterans want to know where the jobs are

When people ran for office last year, there was a lot of talk about what the American people wanted but most of us were stunned. We were not sure what "people" they were talking about since we were out of work. We heard a lot about the tax discounts for the wealthy when they claimed this special minority group were the "job creators" but they didn't seem to make any jobs for us as the unemployment rate went up. As bad as it was for families of veterans along with everyone else in the country, young men and women were coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, after doing their jobs for the country, without a job back in the country. Not good news but what was worse is the fact that no one in congress has done a damn thing all year to change this situation. There has not been one jobs bill out of this congress. It's been all about defending the tax discounts for the rich and cutting everything else the rest of us need.

Now, we've all heard from the Tea Party whining about taxes but since when does a minority of voters become so powerful they can take away everything from the rest of us while supporting the wealthy? Any clue? Do you know why the media gave them that power? Has anyone in the media asked them where all of this attention to the deficit was during the time when the GOP run congress was writing blank checks to fund what they wanted and drove the deficit up? What about the money missing in Iraq? What about the fact there were two wars going on back then and not in the budget?

That's part of the problem with all of this insanity going on. This congress has not been serious about anything other than bending to the Tea Party's will even if it meant cutting what we owe the troops and our veterans. They just don't care. Congress is on vacation getting paid but Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are coming home on extended vacations with no jobs because congress didn't do theirs.

Jobless vet: It was easier in Iraq than at home
By Bill Whitaker

(CBS News) The unemployment rate has been around nine percent for almost two years, but it is surprising to see that unemployment for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans is nearly triple that.

Twenty-six percent of vets between the ages of 18-24 are out of work. CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker takes a look at two veterans struggling to find a job.

In Iraq, the Oregon National Guard's 41st Infantry Brigade combat team provided security for convoys day and night -- a dangerous job.

From July 2009 to March 2010, convoys were routine for gunners Lawrence Burnham and Stephanie Anderson. Both good soldiers, they risked their lives and did their jobs. They dreamed of returning home to routine civilian jobs, as Stephanie said in this video resume posted from Iraq:

"I just love to work and I love to get the job done."

Lawrence Burnham made a video too: "I'm motivated and I'll be ready to work."

They returned home to Oregon as heroes. But more than a year later, they're feeling nearly defeated. Lawrence can't find a job, is running out of savings, almost running out of hope.

"It's very frustrating," said Burnham. "It's almost like you get to the point of 'What's the point?' 'What's the point in even looking for a job?' I'm not going to find one."
read more here
It was easier in Iraq than at home

At least President Obama is trying to do something but I'm sure the Tea Party folks will complain about all of this too.

Obama to unveil jobs push for veterans
By Alexander Mooney, CNN White House Producer
August 5, 2011 4:43 a.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The initiative aims to help former members of the military find private sector jobs,
It is part of a renewed job creation effort that focuses on unemployed veterans
The president is expected to lay out a series of reforms that his administration is pledging
It includes a "Returning Heroes and Wounded Warrior Tax Credit"

(CNN) -- President Barack Obama will outline a new initiative Friday that aims to help former members of the military find private sector jobs, part of a renewed job creation effort focusing on unemployed veterans.

In a speech at the Washington Navy Yard, the president is expected to lay out a series of reforms that his administration is pledging will better prepare service members for the civilian work force and encourage employers to hire recent veterans.

Among the president's proposals will be a "Returning Heroes and Wounded Warrior Tax Credit," which would provide businesses that hire veterans a tax break, varying in size depending on how long the newly-hired veteran has been unemployed and whether he or she has a disability.

At minimum in the president's proposal includes a $2,400 credit for hiring a short-term unemployed veteran while a $9,600 credit would be available for hiring a long-term unemployed and disabled veteran.

Obama will unveil a new Department of Defense task force that, with help from the administration's economic and policy teams, is charged with implementing new programs that ensure service members have the skills and training needed to transition to private sector jobs.

The administration is dubbing this transition period a "reverse bootcamp," during which more access to career guidance and counseling will be made available.

Meanwhile, the labor department will unroll an "enhanced career development and job search service package" while The Office of Personnel Management will publish a manual for business managers outlining how they can locate veterans with skills and training that match open positions.
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Obama to unveil jobs push for veterans

Missing credentials harm jobless veterans
By Alexandra Alper
NEW YORK | Fri Aug 5, 2011 12:02am EDT
(Reuters) - Army officer Donna Bachler has not had a regular paycheck since she left active duty four years ago, even though she boasts the kind of skills employers vie for.

Bachler, 30, helped run the Army's postal service in Kuwait, tackling challenges such as how to crack down on mailed contraband and speeding the flow of mail to troops.

Now back in the United States, she gets by on her husband's salary, which will be cut by more than half when he retires from the military as soon as next year.

"One of the ways I sold (military service) to myself and my parents is 'it looks good on a resume,'" said Bachler, who estimates she has applied for at least 1,000 jobs since 2007. "Sadly, it doesn't."

As U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down, tens of thousands of veterans are flooding the job market at a time when millions of civilians cannot find jobs.

In June, unemployment among recent veterans grew to 13.3 percent, more than 4 percentage points higher than the national average.

From 2008 to 2010, that rate rose from 7.3 percent to 11.5 percent and it is expected to climb as more troops come home this year -- 10,000 from Afghanistan and, unless Iraq requests some to stay, the remaining 46,000 from that country.
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Missing credentials harm jobless veterans

U.S. government pays $7.5 million to medical malpractice victim

U.S. government pays $7.5 million to medical malpractice victim
By TRAVIS J. TRITTEN
Stars and Stripes
Published: August 4, 2011

Court upholds $7.5 million verdict for Air Force spouse who sued U.S. over treatment
District Court of Guam Civil Case No. 06-00008
United States Court of Appeals Document

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — The U.S. government has paid $7.5 million to an Air Force spouse, five months after a federal appeals court upheld the multi-million dollar award, citing negligence on the part of Air Force medical staff that left the woman disabled, the couple’s lawyer confirmed Thursday.

In March, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California upheld a 2008 verdict by the Guam district court awarding Deborah Rutledge $7.5 million, saying the amount was not excessive considering the extent of injuries she suffered when medical staff at an Andersen Air Force Base clinic on Guam failed for several weeks to diagnose a herniated spinal disk in 2004.
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U.S. government pays $7.5 million to medical malpractice victim

Judge allows veteran to sue Rumsfeld over his torture

Judge allows American to sue Rumsfeld over torture
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press – 1 day ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld can be sued personally for damages by a former U.S. military contractor who says he was tortured during a nine-month imprisonment in Iraq.

The lawsuit lays out a dramatic tale of the disappearance of the then-civilian contractor, an Army veteran in his 50s whose identity is being withheld from court filings for fear of retaliation.

Attorneys for the man, who speaks five languages and worked as a translator for Marines collecting intelligence in Iraq, say he was preparing to come home to the United States on annual leave when he was abducted by the U.S. military and held without justification while his family knew nothing about his whereabouts or even whether he was still alive.

The government says he was suspected of helping pass classified information to the enemy and helping anti-coalition forces get into Iraq. But he was never charged with a crime, and he says he never broke the law and was risking his life to help his country.

Court papers filed on his behalf say he was repeatedly abused while being held at Camp Cropper, a U.S. military facility near the Baghdad airport dedicated to holding "high-value" detainees, then suddenly released without explanation in August 2006.
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Judge allows American to sue Rumsfeld over torture